The Election Commission (EC) on Friday stated that its inquiry teamhad found no anomaly or tampering with the Electronic Polling Machine (EVM) that was used for demonstration ahead of the Assembly by-poll in Ater voters in Madhya Pradesh. The Elections Commission, in a record, said that the special inquiry team led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal had submitted its report on the matter assuming that the charges of EVM tampering were completely false. Earlier, the CBI’s has pleaded to restore criminal conspiracy costs against BJP leaders.

“The team gained no anomaly or tampering with the EVM and VVPAT used during the demonstration in Ater (Bhind) on March 31. The query was instituted to probe all features of allegations raised in the media and by political parties,” the poll panel said.

“The team in its report settled that it is entirely false to say that various times slips of Lotus were printed on pressing separate buttons during the demonstration on March 31 as alleged,” it said. The panel additional said, “The lapse compared to non-deletion of the pre-loaded data of Govind Nagar Assembly Constituency of Kanpur Nagar, of where VVPATs (not EVMs) were collected and reloading with the symbols/data of duplicate candidate before demonstration as per the laid down custom of the Commission.”

The Elections Commission, in a record, said that the special inquiry team led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal had submitted its report on the matter assuming that the charges of EVM tampering were completely false.

The Congress, in its criticism of the ElectionCommission, had referred to media statements that said VVPAT (voter-verified paper audit trail) during the EVM illustration showed the BharatiyaJanataParty as the party voted for even when two various buttons were crushed.The conclusion of the query committee on the claims says “the EVMs used in the demo in Bhind was not carried from UP. However, the VVPAT employed in the demonstration was brought from UP.”

“Since the VVPATs are limited in number and had used by all the poll going states during the last five states elections, the delivery of VVPATs for ten countries by-elections was made by the Commission by designating VVPATs from various poll-gone states to different poll going states. In this case, the VVPAT wasawardedfrom UP and brought from Govind Nagar AC of Kanpur Nagar,” the organization said.

“Bringing the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) from UP is not in contravention of law. As per the rule, only the EVMs used in the poll and the VVPAT slips restrained in the box are wanted to be preserved for the period of 45 days in a grasped manner for the determination of Election Petition, if any,” it added.

The commission also concluded, “There is no bar on the progress of VVPATs machines as the same are not needed to be preserved for election appeals as the paper sheets printed through the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trial and contained in the box are required to be sustained independently. In this case, however, further anticipation was taken to transfer only the reserve Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail used as substitutes during poll on which no restriction applies.”